Did you experience any hazing while you were at boarding school?
"There was some hazing associated with the sports teams. The most organized hazing, however, was the whole ring banquet thing...to get my ring I had to complete a kiss list of my senior's choosing, and as I recall there were some things we had to actually do at the ring banquet, none of which I can recall specifically. Closest to hazing I've come, I'm afraid."
What do you think of hazing?
"I'm not sure hazing is a bad thing per se, when it is not overly degrading, vulgar, or violent. There will always be some rites of passage associated with adolescence in particular; we shouldn't kill them all off just to end the few that are out of hand."
From private school graduate #2:
Did you experience any hazing while you were at boarding school?
"Are you kidding? Did I endure hazing? New ninth and tenth grade girls at _________ had to wear yellow ribbons with black __'s in their hair for the first month of school. If you were caught by an upperclassmen without it, you were punished somehow. The new ninth and tenth grade boys had to wear black polyester ties with a yellow __ for the first month of school. They, too, would be punished if they were caught without it. Also, during the first month of school, all new ninth and tenth grade students had to be "waiters" for their respective family-style dinner tables. If a senior asked, at any given moment, you had to do whatever they asked you to, even if you had a full tray full of dishes (for example, I had to hop around the dining hall on one foot with a tray full of dishes, and if you said no, you were in for even greater trouble)."
What do you think of hazing?
"Do you wonder now why I hated that awful place so much?"
From private school graduate #3:
"In those days, the seniors liked to take 9th graders out of their beds in the middle of the night. The seniors would wear panty hose over their heads so you couldn't see who they were. They would drag you down to the hockey rink -- which was very isolated -- and you would be covered in honey and then with feathers. It was meant to frighten, intimidate, and humiliate. The faculty did nothing to discourage this kind of mal-treatment.
To this day the practice is still called by the name we knew it -- 'rinking.'"
Hazing is Still Practised
Certainly times have changed and there. Most private schools have adopted policies against hazing and enforce them strictly.
Were you subjected to hazing at private school? I want to hear from everybody who has been a victim of hazing. I want to hear from those who think hazing is harmless. Please post your comments and experiences in the Forum!
